Above, below: 8 yrs ago, a widely reported story described how 7 members of a granthi's family jumped into this canal to commit suicide. To date, the govt has done nothing to address the region's problems. The suicides - and murders - continue.
Current Events
While The Neros (Nehrus?) of India Fiddle ...
by AMAN SOOD
Khanauri/ Padarthkherhi, Sangrur, Punjab
For a week, Shingara Singh has been camping along the Bhakra Main at Khanauri, his eyes riveted to the water channel.
There are chances the Fatehgarh Sahib resident could locate the body of his 20-year-old niece, who reportedly jumped into the Bhakra canal in Brahmpur village on February 10, 2012.
When a tired Shingara moves to another place, a fresh group of anxious villagers arrives. Another search begins, with eyes wet and hope giving way to despair.
Khanauri is a place of floating bodies as Haryana and Punjab quibble over jurisdiction. Scores of families from Punjab arrive at the canal site to locate their missing relatives as the water channel flows towards Haryana, coming from as far back as Ropar.
In the absence of any government official, grieving relatives turn to private divers. These divers charge anything between Rs. 1000 and Rs 10,000.
In case a body reaches "no-man's-land", it is allowed to pass into Haryana as policemen do not want to register a case.
"If no claimant fishes out a body, it is allowed to pass into Haryana as the policemen avoid registration of an FIR," says Manoj, a Block Samiti member in Haryana who routinely crosses the site.
We were witness to piles of bodies - dogs, pigs and humans.
Teenager Satnam knows how morbid his work of collecting coconuts from the flowing canal is.
"Sometimes, one chances upon a human foot while looking for coconuts," he says.
A police station on the Punjab side is a stone's throw from the canal.
When we spoke to the policemen, they feigned ignorance. But after the intervention of a senior officer, they agreed to take out a fresh corpse.
"If I take out one body, there is another floating behind it. We have other things to do," said a senior police officer.
Patiala's Deputy Inspector General (D.I.G.) of Police, L.K. Yadav, said he would look into the matter.
[Courtesy: Tribune]
February 20, 2012
Conversation about this article
1: Baldev Singh (Bradford, United Kingdom), February 20, 2012, 11:49 AM.
If 'life' is so worthless and cheap in this 'land of gods & goddesses' and 'spirituality', then what is the point of having 1,200,000,000 hopeless people?
2: Sunny Grewal (Abbotsford, British Columbia, Canada), February 21, 2012, 12:04 AM.
Maybe someone can answer this question for me. Has the situation in Punjab always been this horrible?
3: Pritam Singh Grewal (Canada), February 21, 2012, 4:04 AM.
When will human beings have any value in the land of gods and goddesses where the so-called 'babas' and deras are more important than ordinary citizens?